Syllabus
Instructor
Ashley Rosilier - cgi@iteachu.com
Mobile phone: 210-843-5984
Course Goals
My goal is to provide you with a broad background in CGI
programming techniques and issues. We will discuss real world
problems as well as investigate emerging technologies. Since
in my experience the majority of CGI work is not custom programming,
I will place a considerable emphasis on installing and modifying
pre-written CGIs to suit your needs.
Topics
We will be covering the following topics over the six week
course:
Introduction to CGI
- CGI positioning
- Languages for CGI
- Applications
Server Environment
- Browser-server communications
- UNIX vs. NT
- Server configuration
- Enviornment variables
- Errors
Authoring Scripts
- Language features
- Script components
- Communication between forms and scripts
Using Prewritten Scripts
- Installation
- Troubleshooting
- Customization
Advanced Topics
- Cookies
- Security
- Databases
- Alternatives and enhancements to CGI
Class Format
This is an on-line course, which means that there will not
be any classroom lectures or face to face meetings. All correspondence
will be handled via the web and e-mail. If necessary, you
may call me on my mobile phone, but I assure you I am easier
to reach via e-mail. :-)
The majority of this course will be formatted as lessons
and self quizzes. You will be expected to work through the
material according to the schedule
provided. Additional reading will be suggested but not required.
Results of your self quizzes will be e-mailed to me so that
I can track your progress.
In addition to the lessons and quizzes, you will be required
to work on individual projects.
The culmination of the projects will be an interactive website
using a variety of CGI techniques. You are welcome to work
together to understand the class projects, but each student
will need to submit individual work by the posted deadlines.
There will be a class forum
available to discuss the material with your fellow students.
I strongly encourage you to use the forums to not only ask
questions but also to answer other students' questions when
you are able. I find that having students share their different
approaches and viewpoints is an invaluable learning experience.
I will host live chats
a few times during the session serve as my "office hours."
Use this time to ask me specific questions that require an
immediate response. I will make the archives available in
the chat room for those who are unable to attend the chats.
My goal is to respond to email
questions within 48 hrs. However, I expect you to make use
of the forums and the chat sessions as your first recourse
for non-personal questions. Please don't email me the night
before an assignment is due and expect an immediate response!
Grading
This course is Pass/Fail so no letter grade will be assigned.
In order to pass, you must meet the following requirements.
A schedule will be
provided for all assignments. There are several deadlines
during the course which require you to have completed certain
self quizzes and/or projects. You are free to work ahead but
I will give priority to questions that are covering the scheduled
material for each week.
You will be given an automatic grace period of one week if
you fail to meet one deadline. Failing to meet two deadlines
will place you on probation and you should contact
me immediately. Failure to meet three deadlines without
prior arrangement with me will result in an autmoatic Fail
for the course. If you think you will have a problem with
this policy, please e-mail
me right away.
In order to encourage class participation, I am requiring
that every student particpate in at least one chat
session or post at least twice to the forums.
I have tried to vary the chat times in order to accomodate
various schedules, but if you anticpate a problem with the
participation requirment, please
e-mail me right away.
In summary, the requirements to pass this course are:
- Meet all deadlines posted on the schedule
- Participate in at least one chat session or post
at least twice to the forums
You can see an on-line summary of your grade
status at any time.
Prerequisites
It is expected that you are familiar with the following:
- UNIX and/or NT for webmasters
- Perl programming basics
- HTML (including forms)
If you have a deficiency in any of these areas, please
e-mail me.
Required Materials
There is one required textbook for this course and several
recommended references. You may purchase them from Amazon
by following these links if you desire or you can find them
at most bookstores.
Required:
Strongly Recommended:
Recommended:
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